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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mordhau" data-source="post: 8488564" data-attributes="member: 7032137">It's easy enough to do, but I would recommend a few things.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If not using all humans, focus more on 'races' that can sort of be slotted in and don't require adding whole cultures.  Eg Genasi, Changelings, Half-elves that are half fey.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Never use a real world culture slot as a place to bring in non-human races en masse.  Eg.  Do not not decide that in this Pseudo Earth Steppe nomads are Orcs. In some cases you can take broad cultural slots and add in some non-humans. Eg, while you should not make all steppe nomads Orcs, you could have some groups of steppe nomads that are Orcs or Centaurs (Historically there were very many different steppe nomad peoples, so adding in some extra ones should be fine - although if the Orcs ones are the only ones that PCs interact with then it's basically the same as having made them all Orcs).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Be aware that the things that get you into trouble the most are the 'pulp' things.  The modern (as in 19th century and beyond) popular culture representations and tropes. (If you go to actual history books - that aren't too outdated - you are less likely to get into trouble).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Be very careful about things that end up looking like anti-semitism - this is very easy to do in a pseudo Earth.  It's funny how this works structurally, but the moment you start adding an outgroup to pseudo-medieval Europe it's easy to find that you've recreated a lot of anti-semitic tropes.  (Dwarves and Tieflings can fall into this quite easily).</li> </ul>I worry that people are now so sensitive to making mistakes that they won't set games in other cultures or times, like the Chinese Silk Road, or an Islamic Golden Age themed setting, and ultimately I think that's a shame and not a good thing for cultural understanding or general intellectual curiosity.</blockquote>

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